Bernie Ecclestone has admitted that public perception already depicts him as being defeated amid the Gerhard Gribkowsky corruption affair.

Next week in Munich, his trial on bribery charges is set to begin, and it has already emerged that prosecutors do not believe his defense — that he was blackmailed by Gribkowsky over his tax affairs — is plausible.

Helmut Marko has hit back at Mercedes, after the German squad this week called on the court of appeal to come down hard on Red Bull.

As Red Bull appealed Daniel Ricciardo’s Melbourne disqualification in Paris on Monday, a lawyer for rival Mercedes argued at length that the FIA should in fact impose “a further sanction,” due to the “flagrant and deliberate” rules breach.

Stickshift should be listed as an endangered species, along with African rhinos and black-footed ferrets. With modern automatic transmissions become so much more sophisticated and fuel efficient, and enhanced with such things as paddle shifters, manual transmissions are rapidly going the way of ignition points.

Call me old school, but I fundamentally prefer cars with three pedals, especially those cars with sporty ambitions. But it’s so rare that a premium car comes to me for testing with anything other than some kind of high-tech automatic.

A large topic of controversy recently, particularly in the world of Formula 1, has been whether racecars can still sound good in the future as racing series and manufacturers turn more towards greener technology.

Enter the new Porsche 919 Hybrid, which will compete in the 2014 World Endurance Championship this season (including the 24 Hours of Le Mans). Though on paper, a turbocharged 4-cylinder engine may not seem overly impressive, this new hybrid that Porsche will be using in its return to the top class of sports car racing sounds… like a racecar.

On Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas, Andrea Dovizioso overcame the effects of the flu and a fourth-row starting position to battle his way to Ducati’s first MotoGP podium position since Valentino Rossi finished as runner-up at Misano in 2012.

Dovizioso’s heroic effort continued the general feeling that Ducati’s fortunes in motorcycling’s premier category are finally on the rise following several embarrassing seasons that tainted multiple legacies and resulted in a complete overhaul of the program.